Dental tool

ABSTRACT

In a dental tool for the abrasion of tooth and/or filling material in the form of a strip, a diamond coating is provided on at least one lateral face and a tooth system on at least one edge.

[0001] The invention relates to a dental tool or implement for theabrasion of tooth and/or filling material in the form of a strip.

[0002] In the case of damage to teeth, which can be caused by caries,accidents or the use of force, the resulting cavities are filled withfilling material. The filling material then has to undergo furtherabrasion and finally the surface of the filling material is made assmooth as possible, because a rough surface would form retention pointsfor bacteria.

[0003] The rotary tools conventionally used for the smoothing of thedental material only extend to a limited extent into the gap between twoteeth. So that a smooth surface can also be created in the interdentalspace, use is normally made of metal strips. In a first treatment stepuse is made of a strip with a sawtooth system, in order to create a gapbetween the tooth with the filling and the neighbouring tooth. In asecond treatment step use is made of a strip with a diamond coating. Bydrawing the diamond strip backwards and forwards in the gap the toothand/or filling material surface is smoothed. Use can be made of severalmetal strips with different diamond coating grain size in order toachieve the desired, smooth surface structure.

[0004] However, the changing of the dental strip used for a specifictreatment step leads to a danger of the strips hooking or jamming oninsertion and removal and in certain circumstances this can cause injuryto the person being treated.

[0005] The problem of the invention is to provide a dental tool, withwhich a faster and safer treatment of the interdental space between twoteeth can be obtained than with know dental tools.

[0006] This problem is solved by claim 1.

[0007] In the case of the dental tool according to the invention, thesawtooth system producing a gap as well as the diamond coating providedfor smoothing the surface are combined into a single tool, whichsimplifies the injury-free production of smooth surfaces in theinterdental space.

[0008] A preferred dental tool according to the present invention canhave a first and a second diamond coating portion on the lateral face orfaces of the strip, which are separated by a tooth system portion. Thetooth system preferably only extends over the length of the tooth systemportion, i.e. over the length of the intermediate area of the stripseparating both diamond coating portions. However, the tooth system canalso extend over the entire strip length and preferably in the firstmentioned variant it is diamond coating-free.

[0009] The edges of the strip are preferably not diamond-coated. Thismakes it possible to manufacture the strip from an alreadydiamond-coated metal band by cutting, e.g. using a laser.

[0010] The diamond coating can have in different diamond coatingportions different diamond coating grain sizes in the grain diameterrange 8 to 150 μm.

[0011] The working procedure is e.g. as follows when using a dental toolaccording to the invention which, apart from a diamond coating on thelateral faces, has a tooth system along one edge. The strip isintroduced beforehand into the dental gap between two teeth using thetoothed edge and filling or dental material is removed from the gap by asawing movement. The strip is then removed from the dental gap andreintroduced turned by 180°, so that the tooth system points away fromthe base of the dental gap. Using the diamond-coated lateral faceportions of the strip, now the gap lateral faces are ground andtherefore smoothed by drawing the strip backwards and forwards throughthe interdental space and whilst exerting a gentle lateral pressure.

[0012] Further advantageous developments of the invention are given inthe subclaims. The invention is described in greater detail hereinafterrelative to the diagrammatic drawings of embodiments with furtherdetails and wherein the drawings show:

[0013]FIG. 1 a plan view of a first embodiment of a dental toolaccording to the present invention;

[0014]FIG. 2 a partial side view of the embodiment of FIG. 1 at a largerscale;

[0015]FIG. 3 a plan view of a further embodiment of the dental toolaccording to the invention;

[0016]FIG. 4 a partial side view of the embodiment of FIG. 3 at a largerscale;

[0017]FIG. 5 a side view of another embodiment of a dental toolaccording to the invention;

[0018]FIG. 6 a side view of still another embodiment of a dental toolaccording to the invention.

[0019] The dental tool or implement 1 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 comprises astrip of a hard, corrosion-resistant metal, e.g. stainless steel,titanium, etc. with two parallel edges 3, 5 and two parallel lateralfaces 7, 9.

[0020] On each of its two free ends the dental tool 1 has a grippingportion 11, 13 for a secure gripping and handling of said dental tool 1,a first and a second diamond coating portion 15, 17, in each case havinga diamond coating on one or both lateral faces 7, 9 of the strip and anintermediate, diamond coating-free tooth system portion 19, having on anedge 3 a series of sawteeth 21.

[0021] The tooth system portion 19 comprises two smooth, i.e. diamondcoating-free lateral face portions 23, 25, which are laterally boundedby the diamond coated portions 15, 17. Sawteeth 21 extend between thediamond coated portions 15, 17 on one edge of the tooth system portionand said sawteeth 21 are not diamond coated.

[0022] As a result of the diamond coating-free faces 23, 25 of the toothsystem portion 19 it is easy to work with the dental tool 1, because onsawing the strip 1 does not stick laterally on the teeth of the patientand can instead slide backwards and forwards without hindrance.

[0023] In addition, in the vicinity of the tooth system portion 19, thestrip 1 can be readily inserted into and removed again from the gapbetween two teeth of the patient without the strip hooking on the toothsides.

[0024] In the construction according to FIGS. 3 and 4 identical orfunctionally identical components of the dental tool are given the samereference numerals and will not be described again. With the dental toolaccording to FIGS. 3 and 4 sawteeth 27 are also provided on the secondlongitudinal edge 5. The sawteeth 27 can have a finer or coarser toothsystem than the sawteeth 21.

[0025] The embodiment of FIG. 5 is similar to that of FIG. 1. The onlydistinction is, that the sawteeth 21 extend over the whole length of thestrip except the gripping portions 11,13, that is over the diamondcoating free portions 23, 25 and also over the diamond coating portions15, 17.

[0026] That is also true for the embodiment of FIG. 6, which is similarto FIG. 4. However, in the strip of FIG. 6 both series of sawteethsystems 21 and 27 extend over the whole strip length.

[0027] In practice, such a dental tool can have a length of 8 to 500 mm,preferably 5 to 100 mm, a width of 1 to 20 mm and a thickness of 0.01 to1.0 mm. The diamond coating portions 15, 17 can have different diamondgrain sizes. An average grain diameter is in the range 8 to 150 μm.

[0028] The features disclosed in the description, drawings and claimscan be of significance both singly and in random combination for theimplementation of the present invention.

1. Dental tool for the abrasion of tooth and/or filling material in theform of a strip, which at least on one surface has a diamond coating andon at least one edge a sawtooth system.
 2. Dental tool according toclaim 1, wherein a first and a second diamond coating portion areprovided and that a sawtooth system portion separates the first from thesecond diamond coating portion.
 3. Dental tool according to claim 1,wherein the diamond coating is provided on at least one lateral face ofthe strip.
 4. Dental tool according to claim 3, wherein two diamondcoating portions on at least one lateral face are separated from oneanother by a diamond coating-free portion.
 5. Dental tool according toclaim 2, wherein the lateral face portions adjacent to the sawtoothsystem are free from a diamond coating.
 6. Dental tool according toclaim 4, wherein the sawtooth system extends at least over the length ofthe diamond coating-free lateral face portions.
 7. Dental tool accordingto claim 6, wherein the sawtooth system extends over the total length ofthe two diamond coating portions and the diamond coating-free portion.8. Dental tool according to claim 1, wherein the edges of the strip arefree from a diamond coating.
 9. Dental tool according to claim 1,wherein the tooth system is free from a diamond coating.
 10. Dental toolaccording to claim 1, wherein the strip has diamond coating portionswith in each case different diamond coating grain sizes.
 11. Dental toolaccording to claim 1, wherein the average diameter of a diamond coatinggrain is between 8 and 150 μm.
 12. Dental tool according to claim 1,wherein the strip length is between 5 and 100 mm.
 13. Dental tool forthe abrasion of tooth and/or filling material comprising a first and asecond diamond coating portion separated from one another by adiamond-coating-free portion and a sawtooth system, said sawtooth systemextending over the length of the first and second diamond coatingportions and the diamond coating-free portion.